President Trump Moves to Deputize Local Police to Enforce Immigration Laws

The United States is currently witnessing the bizarre spectacle of cities, and perhaps very soon, entire states actively working to prevent the enforcement of federal immigration laws. Setting immigration policy is a legitimate function of the national government, and obstructing the enforcement of its laws is in itself illegal. Yet that is precisely what is going on now.

President Trump, for his part, will have none of this nonsense, and has taken additional actions to buttress his forces that will apprehend and deport illegal immigrants, especially those who have committed crimes.

To build his highly touted deportation force, President Donald Trump is reviving a long-standing program that deputizes local officers to enforce federal immigration law.

The program received scant attention during a week in which Trump announced plans to build a border wall, hire thousands more federal agents and impose restrictions on refugees from Middle Eastern countries.

But the program could end up having a significant impact on immigration enforcement around the country, despite falling out of favor in recent years amid complaints that it promotes racial profiling.

Trump explained his decision as he signed the order.

In his executive order this week, Trump said he wants to empower local law enforcement to act as immigration officers and help with the “investigation, apprehension, or detention” of immigrants in the country illegally.

Risks associated with moving towards the federalizing local police forces notwithstanding, it is the executive’s responsibility to enforce the nation’s laws. One set of those laws addresses immigration, and it is those laws that are not only being violated on a widespread basis, but are laws whose enforcement is being obstructed by leftist state and local governments. As such, they are in a state of rebellion against the nation’s lawfully-enacted statutes.

While having local police invested with federal law enforcement powers and responsibilities is not without its risks, neither is allowing illegal immigrants to enter and remain in the nation at will. Is Mr. Trump is making the right decision?